Edinburgh urged to stop sending homeless families to B&Bs

THROWN out of home at 19, Daryl Robertson has spent more than a decade in and out of the Capital’s homeless system

His latest stint in a crumbling B&B began eight weeks ago when he spilt-up with his girlfriend.

Sent to live in a guesthouse near Leith Links, the 32-year-old former van driver feared the worst.

Yet four previous stays in similar accommodation failed to prepare Daryl for the squalor that greeted him.

Blood-splattered furniture and fittings, filthy bedding, cracked walls and a gaping window were some of the faults he documented.

“It’s depressing because I don’t get a choice to stay here,” said Daryl. “If I had an alternative, I’d go there.

“I keep thinking of rapists and murderers in prison who get three square meals-a-day – they get their human rights.”

A broken TV, shower and toilet have been reported by residents only to take weeks to fix, said Daryl.

The reformed heroin addict has been clean for five years. “I want to help others and I want to help myself,” said Daryl. “I want to get out of this place and I want to work. Maybe an employer will see it and decide they want to give this young man a chance.”